Yosetsu's discharge from the hospital was fast and without much hassle, and for as good as that sounded, the Welder… didn't really like it all that much.

Sure, leaving the confines of the over-sanitised building was very much a good thing, but even so… he didn't like the thought of leaving Mikazuki there. After their little talk with one another the night before, the headband-wearing boy found himself growing fonder of the Tail-using orphan, and for all his faults, Augus was very much considered to be a friend at this point, and if Yosetsu knew anything about friends, it was that they never abandoned one another, regardless of the situation.

Perhaps he could arrange for a visit someday, he thought to himself. Yeah, according to the doc, he would have about a week away from school to recover from the whole incident, and he would also have mandatory therapy sessions for the next five weeks (which were covered by an organisation that went by the Fleming-Javor Co.. Yosetsu has never heard of them…) to help him recover from this incident. One week would be enough time for him to visit the hospital more than once to check up on his friend…

… he just hoped that he could get proper approval from his parents first, though.

"You okay there, little Yoyo? You're kinda spacing out," came the gentle voice of Mazeru as he walked beside his son in a somewhat awkward manner. Blinking a little upon hearing him, Yosetsu shook his head a little to snap himself out of his trance-like state and glanced up at his father with an uncertain look on his face. Vice versa, the older Awase stared back with a look of concern, and on his other side, Toketa offered her son a worried glance as well, with her giving her kid a gentle squeeze on the shoulder to reassure him that he was fine.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine… it's just that… Mika's gonna be here for a while, and I was wondering if I could visit-" began Yosetsu as the three of them exited the hospital building, with the automated doors parting to allow them to leave. As they did so, however, Toketa chuckled lightly and patted her son on the head, a gesture that cut him off rather quickly as he glanced up at her curiously.

"Of course you can, Yosetsu. He's your friend, after all. We won't get between the two of you unless something serious happens," assured Toketa, who smiled as she pinched her son's cheek, eliciting a whine from him all the while. "Not unless he makes us, anyways."

"Beat me to it, dear. That Augus fella seems like a good kid, but I'm not sure if he's got that big of a friend group. Like, don't get me wrong, I'm sure he's great and all, but from what you've told us about him, he seems a little prickly, you know?" commented Mazeru, with him sounding just a bit sheepish as he spoke. Yosetsu rolled his eyes in response to that comment, with him knowing full well that his father did not know much about the real Mikazuki, but in his defense, he's never met him in person before. Maybe he could arrange for a meeting one day…? "I'm sure he'd be thrilled to have you over regularly."

"Well, I don't think we need to worry about Mika getting lonely, dad," laughed Yosetsu as he glanced up at his dad, who furrowed his brow a little in surprise.

"And why's that, sport?" asked Mazeru, curious, eliciting a grin from the youngest Awase present as opened his mouth to speak.

"Well-"

And right as that word left his lips, the Welder perked his ears up abruptly when he heard the sound of footsteps… familiar footsteps, barreling in their direction. Alongside those footsteps was the familiar voice of a certain orphan, who was yelling at his fellow teens to keep up with him as he ran, and upon hearing this, Yosetsu gasped and gently pushed his parents apart whilst he jumped to one side.

"Yosetsu, what are you-" began Toketa as she watched her son move to stand beside her after pushing her away from her husband, though before she could finish that statement, Yosetsu widened his eyes as he watched Norba Shino, who was holding onto both Yamagi and Ride in both his arms, round the corner closest to them and began sprinting in their general direction. Without even a word, Shino darted past the small family, moving so quickly that the three Awases felt their hair and clothes being pulled backwards from the aftershock of Norba's sprint, and before they could even recover from that experience, the pink themed orphan had already charged into the hospital and was demanding to see Mikazuki.

"T-The heck?!" proclaimed Mazeru as he watched Shino bark at the receptionist about seeing his pal, with him yelling about being upset that they didn't call them ASAP the previous night, with said receptionist wilting under him as he spoke. As he did so, however, Ride and Yamagi, both of whom were still being held under Norba's arms, noticed Yosetsu and his family, prompting them to wave at him, the former more enthusiastically than the latter, surprising his parents as they glanced down at him in confusion. "Yoyo, do you know these kids?"

"Uh…"

"Psh, you didn't tell your parents about us? I'm hurt!"

Stiffening a little as he heard the distinct voice of Dante pipe up, Yosetsu and his parents whirled around to see that the ginger was standing behind them, with a grin present on his face all the while. He wasn't the only one present, however, as it seemed as though the entire orphanage, Old Man Yuki included, was present before them, all looking immensely worried but also paradoxically relieved as they acknowledged how Awase was fine.

Atra was the first to speak after Dante, with her and someone that Yosetsu would soon learn to be called Rita Reroutata elbowing through the small crowd. Both Toketa and Mazeru were both equally shocked to see the smaller girl lunge at their son, hugging him with as much force as she could muster, though he didn't seem too bothered by it as he smiled sweetly, even if said smile did appear a little wobbly, and brought his hand down onto the younger girl's head.

"Mixta-Chan! You're alright…!" proclaimed a relieved Yosetsu as the aforementioned girl pulled away from him and watched as he smiled at her happily. She didn't like it, he appeared too happy despite having risked so much to save someone as useless as she was from being kidnapped… but she didn't dwell too much on that as she watched him turn towards the other kid and smile gently at him as well. "You too, kid. You're both fine…"

"Y-Yeah… you're… Awase-San, right? I'm Reroutata. Reroutata Rita…" introduced the boy shyly, eliciting a nod from the Welder as he spoke. It was very obvious that he wasn't a sociable person, and Yosetsu honestly didn't wish to learn more about why that was, more so for his mental wellbeing, but even so, he wasn't about to leave the kid hanging, as he gently punched him in the chest and smiled gently at him.

"I'll make sure to remember your name, Reroutata-Chan. You were pretty f…reaking brave yesterday, you know?" winked Yosetsu as he offered the kid a thumbs up, with him silently pretending that he didn't almost drop an F bomb right there all the while. The other orphans, plus his own two parents, seemed ready to flay him alive, had he done more harm to this child's innocence, and as such, him surviving was very much a miracle all on its own.

"T-Thank you, Awase-San!" proclaimed Rita, who seemed to be the only person that didn't acknowledge Yosetsu's near slip-up as he beamed at the older boy. In response to this, Awase simply winked at him before Takaki walked up and gently nudged Reroutata's shoulder, motioning for him to follow him all the while. Right as he did so, Shino yelled victoriously as he shouted over to his fellow orphans, yelling at them that they had been cleared to visit Mikazuki for the next hour or so, and without much hesitation, the family in all but blood ran after him as the Ryusei-Go wielder wished to be the first to see the midget alongside Gilmerton and Mass.

As they pursued Shino, the other orphans passed Yosetsu and his parents, with all of them wishing Awase the best and apologising quickly to his parents before running off, and after a few seconds, only Orga, Eugene, Akihiro, Yukinojo and Atra were left by the hospital doors alongside the Awase family. The hospital staff didn't seem fond of how the orphans were sprinting down the corridors, full bore and without any brakes, but it wasn't as though they cared, considering how reckless those kids could be.

Akihiro appeared to be a little uncomfortable with the mild tension that was building up between the small groups as he ended up flinching a fair bit beneath it, and after offering Yosetsu a gentle pat over the head that flattened his hair something fierce, he bid the Awase family farewell, alongside a quick but sincere apology, before going after the other orphans, and as for Eugene, he rolled his eyes and sighed a little.

"So, you're the kid's parents, huh? Was hoping that we could've met under… better circumstances, but here we are," said Eugene blandly, with him rubbing at his eyes whilst he spoke. Yosetsu knew Seven Stark well enough to know that he was a fan of dry humor, more so because of how his Quirk made him feel tired all the time after prolonged activation, which happened more times than one would expect, leading to him always feeling grouchy, but even so, he felt as though that little joke of his wasn't exactly the best thing to lead with, considering their current situation, and as if he had read his mind, Yukinojo groaned and grounded his knuckles into the top of Eugene's head.

"Can it, Eyebags," scolded Yuki lightly as he gave the affectionately monikered 'Eyebags' the stink eye, to which he groaned before leaving the area to pursue the other orphans. Along the way, he grunted at Yosetsu, more or less his own way of saying that he was glad that he was alright, before breaking out into a slow jog that was just fast enough that it didn't annoy any of the staff. The Old Man rolled his eyes at this, though he got over it relatively quickly before sighing. "Sorry about Eugene. He's got heart, but you gotta find it under all those layers of grouch."

"It's alright. I've got a colleague that's got the same issue with his Quirk. We had to transfer him from Spot Weld duty to a desk job to stop him from falling asleep with the torch on all the time," joked Mazeru as he grinned at Yukinojo, who grinned right back as he nodded at his words. Toketa required a little more time to readjust, though she was able to do so relatively quickly and smile at the Old Man, who nodded respectfully at her. "Oh, where're my manners! I'm Awase Mazeru, and this is my wife, Awase Toketa."

"Nadi Yukinojo Kassapa," responded Yuki with a nod, offering his hand to the Awase patriarch all the while. Mazeru accepted it, fully expecting a crushing handshake from Yukinojo's massive gloved hand, but he was surprised when he felt very little as he shook his hand. As he did so, he motioned towards the two kids that were still with them. "This chap over here is Itsuka Orga, and the lovely lady down there is Mixta Atra."

Orga noticeably beamed when Yukinojo complimented his looks, and at the same time, Atra blushed at the description, and as she did so, Toketa had to resist the urge to crouch down and pinch her cheeks as she smiled and nodded.

"I vaguely recall hearing about the two of you from our little Yo-yo's phone calls," reminisced Toketa, with her smiling sweetly at Atra as she spoke. The shorter girl blushed a fair bit more as she nodded in acknowledgement, and moments later, she continued. "He told us that those two, alongside the other orphans you look after, are some of the best people he knows of."

"High praise, but I'll take it," chuckled Orga, with him jerking his thumb towards his own chest as he spoke. Yukinojo nodded in agreement as he silently acknowledged how pleasant it was to have someone view his kids in such a positive light, especially after how that previous adoption attempt went. "You two seem to be just as nice as Awase-Kun right here as well. Not much of a surprise, though, seeing as how a kid always takes after their parents."

A sly wink was thrown towards Toketa as he finished, and though some others would've seen this as a bit weird, the Awase matriarch could tell that it was a good natured gesture, and as such, she went with it and giggled behind her hand whilst waving him off. Likewise, Mazeru snickered whilst rolling his eyes while Yosetsu hid his face behind his hands in embarrassment. The eldest Awase figured that he liked these kids, or at least Orga, as he could appreciate his sense of humor, and as he chuckled alongside his wife, he held a hand up to Itsuka, one that he readily accepted with little issue.

"Kid, I like you," stated Mazeru with a wink, one that Orga mirrored as he nodded in affirmation, though not long after, he sighed and straightened his back a little as he continued. "But for as much as I'd like to stand around and chat with you refined gentlemen and…" he paused briefly as he stared down at Atra. "... uh… refined young lady? Aphem, my family and I should be going. Our little Yoyo really needs to rest, after all. He's had a long day."

"Dad, I woke up like two hours ago…" whined Yosetsu, to which Mazeru pouted at him, upset that his little Welder didn't go with the flow like he had hoped. Orga, however, did go with it as he grinned and nodded.

"Heh, you oughta listen to your dad, Awase-Kun. He's definitely got a lot of good wisdom stored in that head of his," laughed Orga as he grinned at Mazeru, who grinned right back as he winked at him. To his side, Toketa rolled her eyes, horrified at what was to come, while Yukinojo restrained himself before he facepalmed.

'Great, now there's two of them!'

Regardless, after a quick final goodbye, and one volley last well wishes and apologises from Atra in particular, the Awase family was off. Orga and Yukinojo offered a two fingered salute and waved, respectively, at the retreating family before moving to visit Mikazuki, though as for Atra, she lingered briefly whilst staring at Yosetsu uncertainly, though after Nadi called out to her, she jogged to catch up with him after giving the Welder a quick wave goodbye.

Yosetsu mirrored the gesture with a small smile before she bolted out of view, and with that, he turned and sighed a little to himself. As he did so, however, he caught his father's attention, and without mercy, Mazeru grinned and gently nudged his kid.

"Is that a crush I smell, little Yoyo?" inquired Mazeru as he nudged his kid, eliciting a wince and a blush from him as he looked away and shook his head. Toketa giggled a little at this, though she otherwise said nothing as she watched her son shake his head. Hm, definitely not a crush. If it was truly a crush, he would've flailed his arms around like a madman. She would know, considering how Mazeru did that when they first met their parents!

"D-Dad! She's a friend! Mixta-Chan's… I think she has her eye on someone else, anyways," deflected Yosetsu, only for Mazeru to chuckle.

"Well polyamary is legal in Japan now so-"

"DAD WHY IS THAT THE FIRST THING TO COME TO YOUR MIND?!"

And despite her attempts at doing so, Toketa was unable to hold back her laughter as she watched Yosetsu flail his arms around whilst trying to tell his dad off. For as strange as it sounded, the Awase matriarch was happy to see her son act in such a way. Though he was never really 'low energy', so to speak, he was always rather seclusive, even when with his parents, and never acted out in such a way before now. It was honestly rather novel, to see her son swing his arms around in embarrassment, and Toketa wished to savour it for as long as humanly possible.

She had the Chryse orphanage to thank for this, and she wondered if she could bake a cake for them one day as thanks.

… probably not. According to a colleague of hers, her cakes sucked. Though her husband and son seemed to like them, though. How strange…

Later

Upon returning home, Yosetsu, after taking a quick shower and having lunch with his parents, a rarity that he savoured a lot more than he probably should've, went up to his bedroom and dropped down onto his bed without much of a second thought.

Apparently, his parents had booked in a week's worth of sick days just to make sure that their little Awase would be doing alright, something that touched their kid just as much as it embarrassed him. Sure, this was a nice gesture, but even so, he didn't wish to cut into their work time too much, as they all knew that this job was literally the only thing keeping them afloat. But at the same time, having them around was certainly a plus.

Unfortunately, Yosetsu wasn't exactly in the best of moods at the moment, and he opted to retire to his room for the remainder of the day. His parents didn't stop him, as they understood that he needed some space after what had happened and were happy to give him enough room to breath until he had recovered from the ordeal, and on a somewhat similar note, Mazeru also joked about how hospital beds tended to make one miss their own beds when slept on for extended periods of time.

Yosetsu wondered if there was more truth behind those words than he had initially expected…

All of that more or less led to the present, with him laying atop his bed and staring up at the ceiling awkwardly. There was quite a lot that he wished to think about at the moment, ranging from what Mikazuki had told him about his school life to everything that had happened to him and the other kids back then. He hoped that those three were alright…

However, though those two issues did pop up rather frequently, there was… something else that the Welder ended up thinking a lot of to pass the time, and that was what Mikazuki had told him mere hours prior…

"You always had the heart of a Hero, buried underneath all your faults."

… the heart of a Hero, huh? That was… a nice thought to have, Yosetsu reckoned. Mere hours prior, the headband-wearing boy had never what he had done to be 'heroic', more reckless and stupid more than anything, but now that he actually had time to consider what he had done the day prior, he supposed that, for as hardheaded as his actions were, what he had done was nothing dissimilar to something a Hero would do in the same scenario. The act of dashing in to save the life of another whilst completely ignoring one's own safety was, in a way, an incredibly heroic thing to do, and though it wasn't much, it still filled the Welder's chest with a small amount of pride for being able to do something so… reckless yet heroic.

'... maybe he had a point about dreams… about how they're the building blocks towards the future,' thought Yosetsu wistfully as he stared up at his ceiling for a few hours on end. His mobile phone laid on his bedside table, untouched despite its full battery. Awase didn't feel like playing it at the moment, with him setting it all aside for him to just think about Mikazuki's words, and within what felt like a handful of minutes, several hours passed…

… and Yosetsu was brought out of his thoughts rather abruptly when he heard the doorbell ringing downstairs. Confused, the Welder sat up, with him worried that something bad was about to happen as he tensed up defensively. Though unlikely, it was still entirely possible that some of those child traffickers had tracked him down and wished to finish the job, and though it was a somewhat ridiculous thought, the headband-wearing boy still expected the very worst as he swung his legs over the edge of his bed and got ready to bolt out of his room within a moment's notice.

Perking his ears up a little, Yosetsu tensed up when he heard someone, most likely his mother, move to open the door. Gulping a little at this, Awase stood up from his bed and shuffled towards his room door, with him reckoning that he'd feel better if he just had a peek at who had knocked on their door. Internally, he prayed with all his heart that it wasn't any bad company, and if it was, he hoped that Toketa wouldn't be hurt by the…

Peeking out of the crack in his room door, Yosetsu narrowed his eyes as he glanced down the stairs and caught a glimpse of the main door to their apartment. Toketa was indeed the one that had answered the door, with Mazeru moving to join her moments later. Their body language assured their son that the person at their doorstep was very much a friendly one, and the fact that they had begun to engage in idle chatter with their visitors eased a majority of the Welder's fears, so much so that he sighed in relief and got ready to shut the door to his room, with him now believing that it was just a door-to-door salesman stumbling upon their humble abode.

That was… until his parents stepped aside, revealing…

"Itsuka-San?! Mixta-Chan?! Nadi-San?!" proclaimed Yosetsu, shocked at their abrupt presence at his doorstep as he opened his door fully and stared down at the three aforementioned residents of Chryse with widened eyes, and upon hearing him, all five people below the stairs turned their attention up to stare at him, with Atra giving out a gentle eep! as she did so. Upon noticing that he had yelled, however unintentionally, Awase blushed and scratched the back of his neck, with him wordlessly sending an apology to everyone present all the while.

For their part, none of them seemed to mind, with Orga and Yukinojo chuckling mildly at his expense while Atra simply smiled a little. Mazeru joined the former two in chuckling until Toketa pinched his cheek, reminding him to tone it down when guests were over, and as that happened, Itsuka sighed and saluted Yosetsu with two fingers.

"Sorry for coming on such short notice, Awase-Kun. We just wanted to drop by and make sure you were fine. You don't mind having us for a few hours, don't you?" apologised Orga, with him smiling a little as he spoke, to which Yosetsu offered him a surprised expression, one that quickly morphed into one of amusement, and then a small smile, before he shook his head.

"No, I don't mind one bit, Itsuka-San."

A short while later

Nothing was said between Yosetsu Awase or Atra Mixta as the duo sat awkwardly in the former's room, with the former sitting atop his room chair whilst the latter sat atop his bed in a somewhat awkward manner.

After initial introductions were over and done with, Atra, surprisingly enough, had jogged up to Yosetsu and requested to speak to him in private. Both Toketa and Mazeru eyed the two kids critically as their instincts began to flare up, but their trust in their son, alongside Orga and Yukinojo's assurances that Atra was not that kind of girl, got the better of them, and they allowed the two to seclude themselves in Awase's room with little issue.

Upon entering, Yosetsu almost immediately noticed how Atra was carrying a bag with her. That in itself wasn't particularly strange, so he thought very little of it, though he did find it odd, how the girl had removed it and began hugging it like it meant the world to her before sitting atop his bed. He didn't question it, however, as the duo fell into a comfortable silence for a brief few minutes.

"... you wanna have a go at some MBON?" asked Yosetsu after some time, with his sudden question scaring Atra a little as he turned to face her. In response to this, Awase felt his cheeks reddening as he waved a hand in apology, to which Mixta blushed as well before shaking her head.

"N-No need, Awase-Kun. Thank you…" thanked Atra with a kind smile, to which Yosetsu nodded, and for a brief few seconds thereafter, the duo went silent once more, though before the silence could get too oppressive, the much shorter girl gathered her courage and blurted out her next few lines. "Awase-Kun, I… I-I wanted to say-"

"If you're gonna say sorry, Mixta-Chan, then you oughta save your breath," stated Yosetsu bluntly, with him cutting Atra off rather quickly with his words. Upon hearing this, whatever the pink haired girl was about to say found itself dying in her throat as she buried her face in her bag, and at that, Awase sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in mild annoyance.

He could… understand why she was feeling this way. For the most part, the events that transpired not more than a day ago could technically be considered her fault. Her decision to bring Yosetsu along with her rather than Mikazuki changed the outcome of the situation a lot more than anyone could've foreseen, and her rash decision to rush in without a plan was both reckless and illogical. But with that being said, Awase could never, for the life of him, put the blame solely onto his acquaintance. She was just doing what she thought was right in the moment, and after having to make a decision similar to hers on two separate occasions, the Welder could very easily understand how she felt back then when she had charged into the situation.

"Look, I won't say that you're completely faultless in this whole situation…" continued Yosetsu when he noticed how Atra had begun to shrink in on herself when he had cut her off initially. Hearing him made her perk up a little as she eyed him curiously, a cute expression that almost made him forget how to speak as he cleared his throat and continued. "But even so, I was the one that charged in after you. I made the decision to just run in like an idiot without a plan and I paid for it. Sure, I was chasing after you, but it was a split second decision on my part, not yours, and I'll never blame you for any of this, you got that?"

Yosetsu's words were spoken with an air of finality that Atra was unable to argue against him, not with a proper argument, anyways, as her cheeks reddened as she darted her gaze down to the ground beneath her. Shortly thereafter, she offered Awase a nod of defeat, one that made him smile a little as he sighed and spun atop his desk chair.

"But hey, if you want some extra assurance, you did technically also save my ass by directing Mika to where I was being held at. You and Reroutata-Kun," added Yosetsu cheekily as he spun atop his chair, words slurred by the motion. Atra didn't say anything about that as she realized that what he said had been the truth, and as such, she remained silent as she watched him slow down, with him seeing stars as he began regretting his decision to spin like a top. "By the by… w-what's in the bag, anyways?"

"O-Oh!" proclaimed Atra sheepishly as she perked up and stared down at the red bag in her arms. While Yosetsu shook his head and allowed his vision to refocus itself, the young girl unzipped the bag and reached into it, with her pulling out a hefty book with several tags sticking out from its side in record time. Thereafter, she held it up to Awase to allow him to have a look at what its title was, and thankfully enough, the world around him had stopped spinning by then, allowing him to read the hastily scribbled name that was written over the original name of the book.

"Chryse Hero Agency's Hero List…?" muttered Yosetsu, confused at what that title was referring to as Atra nodded stiffly and set the book atop her lap. Thereafter, she opened it up to a random spot and smiled gently as she skimmed through its contents.

"We use this book to make up Hero names for everyone in Chryse. Everyone there wants to be a Hero… so they always talk about their titles and names!" explained Atra as she held the opened book out to Yosetsu, who reluctantly accepted it and read the page it was turned to. It felt rather wrong of him to read something as personal as this without permission from… well, he technically had Atra's permission, but it would've been nice if Orga or Yukinojo just showed up and gave him their approval as well.

Regardless, he mostly ignored that thought as he read through the Hero names that were scribbled onto the various pages. The tags that were every present on the side of the book bookmarked the specific pages that were written on by specific members of the orphanage, and out of curiosity, Yosetsu flipped over to a random page and found himself landing on one of Shino's.

Unsurprisingly, the guy was very much flamboyant with his naming setup. He had quite a few over the top, albeit charmingly so, names, such as The Pink Lizard Hero; Pinksposion, The Unblinking Hero; EyeLicker (this one in particular was vetoed and crossed out several times over, specifically by Yamagi) and, perhaps his most popular one, The Pink Comet Hero; Ryusei-Go, which, if the multiple ticks and circles were anything to go by, was the most likely to be chosen if he ever became a Hero.

Strangely enough, though, there was another name, dubbed The Red Hued Hero; Flauros, scribbled beneath Ryusei-Go, and though it was vetoed in favour of Shino's personal favorite name, based on just how many votes there were in favour for it, the Welder reckoned that it must've been a very close call.

Swiftly, he turned the page and scanned through another part of the book, with this one being on Takaki Uno. His names and titles were mostly rustic and simple, with there being only two other proposals (The Attractive Hero; Magna and The Thick Hero; Magneto), both vetoed for being too embarrassing and for violating some sort of copyright law, apparently. He eventually settled for The Positive Polarity Hero; Uno.

Ride Mass had an entire page filled with ridiculous ideas that were ultimately scrapped, more so for his own good than that of anyone else. Yosetsu read through dozens of options (The Warping Hero; Here'n'There, The Disappearing Hero; Dis'pear and, perhaps his favorite, The Backdoor Hero; Fuq-of) before seeing the one he settled on, The Unanchored Hero; Riden-Go.

Akihiro, Chad and Dante all had similar philosophies with their Hero names, mostly being simple yet to the point names that told you everything you needed to know about them. Respectively, they were The Quad Hero; Full City, The Extending Hero; Rodi and The Electronic Hero; Red Grave.

As for Mikazuki, however… that was the page that Yosetsu had been most curious about, even before he learnt about his intentions of becoming a Hero. Though it wasn't often, Awase still had to confess to him sometimes wondering about what Mika's Hero title and name would be, and he figured that he would get his answer today. What he didn't expect, however, was for there to be an entire segment of the book dedicated to him trying to figure out what to call himself.

Yosetsu went through at least five pages of names to find what Mikazuki eventually settled on, and in those five pages, the Welder found himself smiling just a bit at what the Tail wielder had come up with.

The Cute Hero; Mixta, The Tail Hero; Tail, The Chryse Hero; Chryse… the guy really didn't have much of an imagination, didn't he? Curiously enough, there was a name that was scribbled out rather violently, presumably by Mikazuki himself, dubbed The Rest Mist Hero; Ketchup… strange.

Other names and titles included The Soldiering Hero; Endure, The War Hero; Mars and, curiously, The Red Eyed Hero; Rexi. That one… was a bit weird, but Yosetsu didn't question it all that much.

On the last page for Mikazuki's potential Hero names, however, were two that were tied for his first choices. Of the two, one of them was The Iron Blooded Hero; Lupus Rex, something that, admittedly, suited him very well… and as for the other… well… Yosetsu wasn't sure what to think of it.

After all, The High Calibre Hero; Nagant, didn't seem to fit him all that well…

"Mikazuki told me that you were having problems with your Hero name, so I brought the big book down to help you with it!" commented Atra with a smile, causing Yosetsu to snap out of his thoughts as he stared over at her curiously. It was then when he realized that she was standing in front of him now, smiling with her hands behind her back all the while. "There's a page behind Mikazuki's that's empty! You can write down whatever you have in mind there, and the others will vote on it!"

"... alright," muttered Yosetsu, with his gaze lingering on the last potential Hero name Mikazuki had chosen for himself before flipping the page over. The empty page he stared at seemed to stare right back at him as he hummed to himself apprehensively, and as he did so, Atra waddled up to his side and peeked over his shoulder with a curious gaze.

"Do you need some help with deciding your Hero name?" inquired Atra, to which Yosetsu chuckled slightly.

"Probably. I… never really thought about having one till recently. Not seriously, anyways. All I've got is Welder, but Mika kinda told me that it's… uh… lame," commented Yosetsu, to which Atra giggled, only to stop when she realized how rude that could've been.

"Mikazuki's like that… but he suggested something else, didn't he?" offered Atra, eliciting a nod from Yosetsu.

"Yeah. he suggested… Acceleron," confirmed Yosetsu, gaining himself a giggle from Atra as she nodded. The Welder gave the girl a confused gaze as he tried to figure out why she was giggling, though she wouldn't tell him why. She'd rather not let Mika's little secret of being a bit of an engineer nerd (not on the level of Takaki or Yamagi but still), enough for him to know of an old, defunct independent Welding Company known as Acceleron.

He had called that name cool when he first discovered it, and he had mentioned that it was unfortunate how no Hero had used it at least once in the past, so to have it be brought back as one of Yosetsu's potential Hero names… well, it almost felt like fate.

"Acceleron's cool, but should we think of more?" asked Atra, prompting Yosetsu to nod as he offered her a thumbs up, noting how the pink haired girl seemed to be a lot more confident now. It seemed as though the more she spoke with someone she knew she could trust, on a topic that she was interested in, no less, the less she stuttered when speaking, and though it was just an assumption on his part, Awase still felt a little happy to know that Mixta could trust him to a certain degree.

But even so, that did make him wonder just why she was always so distrusting of others… a thought that didn't last long as both he and Atra began discussing potential Hero names for the next couple of moments.

Meanwhile

"Again, we're sorry for dropping by without calling, but we just wanted to make sure that Mr… sorry, Awase-Kun is alright."

As he said that, Mazeru smiled and set down four cups of tea atop the living room coffee table, and upon doing so, he moved to sit atop the couch beside his wife, who had been engaging in smalltalk with Yukinojo and Orga as her husband brewed the tea. At that, Orga, with a small smile, grabbed onto the cup and chugged it down with very little concern, and though the Awase duo were shocked at what he had did, especially when one considered how the tea was still steaming hot, Yukinojo remained completely uncaring as he watched Itsuka pull the now empty cup away from his lips and allowed a satisfied ah to escape his lips.

"You can brew up quite a storm, Awase-San!" laughed Orga as he smiled widely at Mazeru, who stared right back at him with a look of utter bewilderment. Anyone who drank from a cup that hot would've had their throat melted down by now! What the fuck was Itsuka made of?! Or rather, what kinda Quirk did he have that made him so heat resistant?!

"Uh…" blurted out Toketa as she watched Orga lean back smugly, and as he did so, Yukinojo picked his own cup up and blew at it a little to cool it down. His gloved hands kept them from being burnt by the scalding hot ceramic cup, though he could still feel the heat emanating off it as he held it.

"That's just a side-effect of the brat's Quirk, don't mind him," scoffed Yukinojo with a roll of his eyes before he downed his own cup of tea as well, with him smiling a little after emptying it halfway. "Not bad, Awase-San. You can brew up a proper storm."

"Oh please, it's just store-bought tea! And just call me Mazeru," assured the aforementioned man, who grinned at his visitors as he spoke.

"And please just call me Toketa. I'd say you deserve that much, after one of your kids brightened up our little Yo-Yo's life," concurred Toketa, with her smiling brightly as she spoke. Yukinojo and Orga were both surprised by this, though they saw no reason to deny such a request, and as such, they nodded in near perfect sync.

"In that case, you can call me Yukinojo, or Yuki. Depending on what you prefer. Not sure if the brat wants to be called by his first name, though," offered Nadi, who eyed Orga as he spoke. In response to this, Itsuka simply chuckled.

"It'll be a while before I let anyone outside of the orphanage call me Orga. If you don't mind, I'd prefer to go by Itsuka for the time being," said the tanned young man, to which the Awases nodded in understanding. Thereafter, they briefly went silent as the adults simply basked in the silence shared between the four of them, though as per usual, it was inevitably broken by the youngest person present, with that being Orga, who cleared his throat and spoke up. "So… is the kid alright?"

"Yosetsu? He's… holding up well. I can tell that he's still a little unsure about talking about the whole situation, but we know that forcing him to speak about it won't help anyone," responded Toketa, with her pressing her hands against her thighs as she spoke. She was truly worried about her son, and though she never brought it up, she could still see some subtle shifts in his mood that signified a change in his behavior, things that would've been best resolved by the therapist that was recommended to him by the doctors rather than herself and her husband, who had no formal training in soothing others beforehand.

"Hm, bottling things up isn't a good thing, but you're going to give him some therapy, yes? If you don't have enough to-" began Yukinojo, who was about to offer to help pay for some therapy for the youngest member of the Awase family. It was the least he could do after the kid had brought so much life back to the orphans that he was in charge of overseeing, but before he could finish that statement, Mazeru grinned and waved him off.

"Turns out, some… organisation called the Fleming-Javor Co. is helping us cover the fee for Yosetsu's therapy upcoming session," said Toketa, with her smiling a little as she recalled that letter she got from that organisation. Orga, however, seemed a little skeptical as he raised a brow in apprehension.

"Fleming-Javor Co.? Never heard of it. Think it's some new Hero Agency?" asked Orga, eliciting a shrug from Yukinojo as he finished up his tea.

"Possibly Underground or something. Can't be too sure these days, with all those colorful punks running around, thinking they're the next All Might or whatever," grumbled Yukinojo, with him sighing a little as he lowered the cup from his lips. At that, Mazeru snickered a little in partial agreement with Nadi's words while Toketa and Orga rolled their eyes, though not long after, they got over it as the dark skinned man continued to speak. "But even so, if it's a part of a hospital bills, then I'm sure it's trustworthy."

"Well, the organisation's got enough goodwill in them to cover the medical fees, so…" trailed off Toketa, with her doing her best to hold back her still lingering surprise when she recalled how the medical expenses were all paid for by this Fleming-Javor Co.. The Awase family was by no means poor, but knowing that they had a potential Hero Agency looking over them was a small relief to them…

"Hmph, well, hopefully it doesn't blow up in your kid's face. Speaking of, I think I oughta go check on em. Wonder how Atra's doing with the Hero Name Book," chuckled Orga as he stood up and stretched a little, eliciting a confused look from Yosetsu's parents. Seemingly noticing this, Itsuka grinned and seemed ready to explain, though he was quick to stop when he got a somewhat devious thought. "Hey, Old Man, I'm sure you can tell em' what Mika told their kid back in the hospital room."

"Orga…" grumbled Yukinojo, with him knowing full well that the aforementioned young man was simply trying to skimp out on this. Though he was a responsible person, Orga's responsible side was maintained nine out of ten times a day, with that final one out of ten being devoted to slacking off and letting someone else, usually Eugene, the poor sod, deal with the responsibilities that came with being the self proclaimed big boss of Chryse. Evidently enough, without Seven Stark present to shirk responsibilities onto, he ended up settling on Nadi as his sacrificial lamb, and upon hearing the older man grumble his name, Itsuka grinned knowingly and saluted his senior cheekily.

"Hey do you hear that? Sorrygottagobye!" blurted out Orga before he darted up the stairs of the Awase household, leaving behind an annoyed Yukinojo and an amused Awase couple all the while.

"... does he do that often?" asked Toketa curiously, with her staring at Yukinojo uncertainly as she spoke. In response to this, the older man pinched the bridge of his nose with his gloved hand and sighed in annoyance.

"More often than I'd like, but usually not to me," huffed Nadi, though there wasn't much in the way of animosity behind his words. Rather, he sounded just a tiny bit annoyed as he snorted and shook his head, effectively dispelling the thought from his mind as he continued. "But still, I guess Mikazuki's technically my responsibility right now, and though Orga's closer to him than I probably ever will be, I still need to take charge and pass along the message that he wanted us to."

"A… message?" echoed Mazeru, sounding just a bit guarded as he spoke, eliciting a nod from Yukinojo all the while.

"Yeah. I'll just cut straight to it, you two. What do you think of your son becoming a Hero…?"

"Yo! Mind if I come in?"

"Sure thing, Itsuka-San. Doors unlocked and all that."

With a grin, Orga gently swung the door open and poked his head into Yosetsu's room. The place looked just as Mikazuki described it to be, with its spacious design and somewhat mundane decoration sense. Awase never struck Itsuka as an interior designer, anyhow, so he supposed that it was to be expected.

Both Yosetsu and Atra were currently standing and sitting in front of the former's room desk, respectively, with Awase standing by its side whilst Mixta sat atop his chair (albeit with a few pillows stacked beneath her rear to give her a bit more height). The Chryse Hero Agency's Hero List sat atop the desk both kids were standing behind with it opened to one of its last few pages, and it seemed as though the two were discussing the potential Hero names for the older kid present before they were interrupted by Orga's entrance.

"Orga!" greeted Atra cheerfully, surprising Yosetsu with just how loud she could be when she wished for it as she got off the chair and jogged over to greet the tanned young man up close. Awase watched as she stopped in front of him, with her only coming up to his abdomen thanks to her small stature, though he didn't voice out her small problem with height as he watched Itsuka smile and pat her over the head, a gesture that she very much appreciated as she closed her eyes and hummed a little in satisfaction.

"Atra. I presume the two of you are getting along just fine, hm?" hummed Orga as he removed his hand from Atra's head and walked up to Yosetsu. The Welder shrugged as he not-so-subtly tried to hide the Chryse Hero Agency's Hero List behind his body, with his cheeks taking on a small tinge of pink as he acknowledged how some of his Hero names could come across as cringey to anyone that wasn't him or Atra, but Orga, seemingly noticing this, grinned and reached forwards to pick the book up before Awase could stop him.

"Itsuka-San, m-maybe you shouldn't…" began Yosetsu, only to sigh and trail off when he realized that there was no saving him now. Thereafter, he remained silent as he watched Orga sit atop his bed and read through the name proposals that were written down onto the book, with Atra moving in to sit beside him shortly thereafter whilst Yosetsu himself remained by the sidelines, doing his best to look disinterested.

For the most part, the Hero name proposals weren't out of the ordinary. Orga couldn't claim to be able to recognise Yosetsu's handwriting, but considering how vastly different Atra's was to his own, he could very well tell who wrote which name. Atra proposed two names and titles: The Fix-It Hero; Felix and The Shield Hero; Shade, both of which were simple, yet effective, though Orga doubted that Yosetsu would go for either.

As for the Welder, his name choices were a bit more flamboyant, albeit not by much. The Welding Hero; Weldcraft, The Flash-Weld Hero; Solder, The Stop-You-In-Your-Tracks Hero; Spot Weld (Orga had a feeling that this one was going to be very quickly vetoed) and The Combining Hero; Gattai. That last one was decent, but according to Yamagi, it had been taken.

The one that seemed most enticing to Yosetsu, and by proxy everyone else, however, was the one that Mikazuki had proposed to him back in the hospital, The Atomic Accelerating Hero; Acceleron. The title itself was probably a little misleading, considering how Awase didn't technically accelerate atoms, he combined them, but still, it sounded cool, and the name Acceleron was just better than Welder in more ways than one.

Hell, if anything, it was probably better than fucking Endeavour. Orga still wondered why the Number 2 Hero called himself that. In his oh so humble opinion, ChoRyuJin was the superior name, but then again, calling oneself a Super Dragon God did seem egotistical, and considering the Flaming Hero's (ironically) cold attitude, he supposed that it wouldn't be appropriate.

Regardless, after sifting through the decent amount of names that Yosetsu had come up for himself, Orga ended up grinning as he snapped the book shut and eyed his junior pal with a small amount of approval. Awase caught it as he raised a brow in apprehension, and at that, Irsuka grinned even wider before he handed the book off to Atra and motioned for her to leave them for a bit.

"Go show these to the big guys. I wanna have a chat with Awase-Kun real quick," requested Orga, with him smiling gently as he shooed Atra away. Mixta took note of the somewhat playful tone of voice that Itsuka was speaking and appeared mildly skeptical at first, though she obeyed regardless as she grabbed the big book of Hero names and scurried on out. Yosetsu almost shouted as he took a step forwards to perhaps stop the girl from leaving, at least with the book, though the pink haired girl proved too fast for him, as she bolted straight out of the room within seconds, leaving him behind with the lilac haired young man.

"... dammit," groaned Yosetsu as he slouched forwards, with Orga snorting in amusement as he grinned at the kid in front of him. Vice versa, Awase stared back with a look of mock annoyance, one that wasn't shared by the older guy whatsoever as his grin somehow intensified drastically. "My parents will never let me live any of that down, you know that?"

"Yep. guilty as charged and all that nonsense," laughed Orga cheekily, with him shifting to one side and patting the empty spot beside him thereafter. Yosetsu rolled his eyes at this before he moved to claim the empty spot beside him with a sigh, and as soon as his rear hit the bed, he reclined backwards and balanced his body weight against his two arms.

Silence reigned between the two guys as the tanned young man hummed wordlessly to pass the time whilst the younger kid felt content with the lack of words shared between the two. After some time, however, Orga seemed to grow relatively tired of the silence, as he cleared his throat and glanced over at Yosetsu, who raised a brow at him.

"Hey, kid, I… I just wanted to say thanks. For helping Atra out and all that. You rushing in was properly stupid, but you were still a real Hero back there, and you deserve some thanks for doing what you did," said Orga, with him grinning a little as he spoke. Yosetsu simply grinned at that as he nodded somewhat pridefully, with him knowing full well that there were times where he should be prideful and times where it was best for him to remain humble, and considering the amount of nonsense that he's been put through not that long ago, Awase reckoned that he deserved to be a little prideful for once as he allowed himself to accept the praise.

"Hey, it's all cool. I couldn't just sit there and do nothing, after all," rebutted Yosetsu, with him scratching his cheek sheepishly as he spoke. Orga snorted at his words before shaking his head, with him knowing full well that the praise was very much appreciated by the younger boy, but with that being said…

"Yeah. It's cool, but what's not cool is how you suck at fighting," continued Orga, and at that, Yosetsu blinked and raised a brow at Itsuka. In response to this, the tanned young man simply continued to speak. "Kid, Mika may have been injured back then, but even he could see that your fighting sucks."

"... I know. I never really trained much for that, unfortunately," admitted Yosetsu sheepishly, with him scratching the back of his neck awkwardly as he spoke. At best, his 'training' consisted of him copying moves he saw on TV, usually to below average success, and though he could improvise decently well with his Weld Quirk whilst in the heat of combat, Awase knew that could only bring him so far, and without proper training, he would never become a proper Hero, especially now when he was legitimately aiming to become one.

"Tell me about it. Mika told me that, outside of Welding the guy's hand to his face, you didn't do much else. Hell, you barely moved a muscle thereafter, and you even Unwelded him when he scared you back. If the other chumps weren't there to back you up, you would've died to that bastard…" said Orga darkly, with him trying to mask his worry under a thin layer of dark amusement as he spoke, though his mild amusement was quickly interrupted when he noticed how Yosetsu's shoulders dropped upon receiving this criticism. His expression assured Itsuka that he didn't take it too badly, however, as he did find it to be helpful, now that he was pursuing the Hero profession seriously, but even so… "Hey, Awase-Kun, I'm not trying to knock you down for trying to help. I'm just saying that, unless you get some practice in fighting, you won't be much more than a liability on the battlefield, as harsh as that might sound."

"I… understand, Itsuka-San. It's just that… the gyms aren't exactly easy to find. A lot of them are out of town, and the closest aren't exactly cheap either. I don't wanna dig too deep into my parents' pockets, and as for buying the equipment myself, I'm not sure where to get them from…" admitted Yosetsu dishearteningly, eliciting a grin from Orga as he spoke. His words held no lies behind them, as the Welder sounded genuine in his wishes to better himself. This was a good thing, as Itsuka has seen many kids, particularly back in some of Mikazuki's old schools, talking up a storm about how they would definitely become Heroes just because of their Quirks.

Yosetsu, however, didn't have a combat-oriented Quirk to fall back on, and because of this, he knew that he needed to train himself up to make up for this. He needed to develop himself physically in order to make up for his Quirk's shortcomings, and he seemed willing to put in the effort to do just that… and it was because of this drive of his that Orga said his next few words…

"Well, Awase-Kun, if you don't mind me asking… would you like the Chryse Orphanage to train you? Physically, that is. I'm sure that you're already doing alright mentally… after the therapy sessions that is," offered Orga, with him grinning as he watched Yosetsu's face take on a shocked expression. Such a reaction was to be expected, honestly, as the offer was rather out of left field, and it took Awase a moment or two to fully process it as he scratched his cheek uncertainly.

"Are… you sure about that, Itsuka-San?" muttered Yosetsu, with him sounding incredibly uncertain as he spoke. Orga grinned a little at his question, more or less answering it as the Welder continued. "But…why me specifically? There has to be more qualified people for the role, right?"

"Physically speaking, yes. Ride, Takaki, Yamagi and, Hell, even that Reroutata kid can floor you within seconds," stated Orga, with him noticing how Yosetsu's face fell a little at that notion. He… didn't really blame him, honestly, as learning that the youngest members of Chryse could knock him out with a single punch was probably… unpleasant, but even so. "But mentally, you're beyond anything any of us can achieve. We never had any form of meaningful education before you came into our lives, and just for that alone, you're a better Hero candidate than all of us combined."

"... wait, but what about Mika?" asked Yosetsu, tilting his head a little as he acknowledged how Mikazuki, though not exactly one to gain straight A's in his papers, was still decent academically, and to that, Orga's face fell as he glanced over at the door. After a moment or two of staring at it, he glanced back at Awase, who flinched at just how serious he now was as he motioned for him to come closer, almost as though he were sharing a secret with him. The Welder did as he was motioned to do.

"I'm sure you know of this by now, but Mika sees a lot of potential in you, Awase-Kun. He knows that you can become an amazing Hero one day, and he doesn't want your potential to be squandered. He was actually the one who proposed this idea, and we all agreed to it," stated Orga seriously as Yosetsu blushed a fair bit at the reminder of how Mikazuki still believed in his capabilities of becoming a Hero. It was very flattering, to say the least… "That, and we're not exactly sure if he's returning to the orphanage after today. He said as much himself, and he really wanted us to get you into shape to become a future Hero. And before you go feeling bad about it, kid, don't blame yourself for his predicament. If you didn't hop in, Atra would've been taken… and honestly speaking, shit would've gone much worse if that had happened."

"... well shit, Mika really cares about Mixta-Chan, huh?" chuckled Yosetsu as he scratched the back of his neck meekly, to which Orga nodded.

"Yeah. He definitely does. Regardless, Mika told me that training you should be a priority for all of us. He sees some serious potential in you, and personally speaking, I agree with him. You've got a long way to go around here before becoming a Hero…"

As he said that, Orga lifted his arm up and prodded Yosetsu's arms and legs, more or less getting the idea across before continuing.

"... but over here," another pause, with Orga tapping two fingers against Yosetsu's heart before continuing. "You're already a one in our eyes."

And to that, the Welder found his eyes growing rather glassy as he looked away from Orga briefly, and shortly thereafter, he grinned and wiped at his eyes, eliciting a chuckle from Itsuka as he watched Awase smile widely and stare back at him once more.

"Thank you, Orga… thank you. I'll do my best to live up to you and the others' expectations! I promise!"

"I know you will, kid. I know you fucking will."

Several hours later

When it came time for Orga, Atra and Yukinojo to leave the Awase residence, the trio did so with little fanfare. Yosetsu did redden a little when he left his room to escort Itsuka down to be united with the others, mainly because his parents gave him the cheeky side eye that told him that they had read his Hero names, but he did his best to ignore them as he bid the orphans and their caretaker farewell.

After a quick wave goodbye, alongside a quick hug shared between himself and Atra, the girl's way of thanking him one last time for his aid, Yosetsu shut the door and slunk back into his home. As he did so, a good majority of his body felt worried that he'd get teased from the heights of Heaven all the way down to the depths of Hell by his parents for the multitude of Hero names that he's chosen for himself… but even so, he was quickly caught off guard when he saw that they didn't seem to even consider it.

Rather, the two simply gestured for him to sit down on the couch alongside them, with the duo looking somewhat contemplative all the while. Yosetsu did as he was told, with him sitting not too far away from his mother, effectively sandwiching her between himself and Mazeru, and for quite some time, no one really said anything as Toketa cleared her throat a handful of times whilst her husband whistled an awkward tune. Their son just felt awkward as he drummed his fingers absentmindedly atop the couch cushion, trying to figure out why they told him to stay in the first place…

"Yosetsu…" began the Welder's father, already surprising his son as he truly did not expect him to use his actual name. Hearing this made the headband-wearing kid tense up, with him wondering if he was in any trouble, though much to his relief, Mazeru's expression assured him that he was in the clear. "Can we… ask you something?"

"Sure, dad," responded Yosetsu, short and simple as he smiled gently at the older Awase's question. Mazeru mirrored the expression before nodding and chuckling to himself, with him scratching the back of his neck as he did his best to articulate his thoughts into words. He opened his mouth several times over, only to close it back up as he pondered on how he should actually vocalise his mind, though after several moments of this repetition, Toketa got sick of it and filled in for him.

"Yosetsu… we want to know. Do you… want to be a Hero?" said Toketa, with her tensing up a little when she saw how her baby boy perked up a little at that inquiry. It… was an understandable reaction, all things considered, as, despite them knowing that Awase was very much capable of self defense (kind of), they still worried for him, something that was to be expected of every halfway decent parent. Yosetsu himself seemed to notice this, as he stopped himself before he gave his definitive answer, and after some serious consideration on his end… he offered his parents an uncertain nod of his head.

"Yeah… I… do want to be a Hero," admitted Yosetsu, with his cheeks flushing a little as he spoke, to which both Toketa and Mazeru slouched their shoulders. They seemed to have been expecting such an answer from him, but even so, to hear it for themselves was still quite a surprise, and after taking a few moments to recover from this, Mazeru cleared his throat and spoke up.

"Well, we… won't stop you from pursuing your dreams, Yosetsu. But still, you do know that it will be difficult, right? And you… w-well… that day with your… incident. I don't like to say it, but from what the Heroes and officers told us, you were incredibly lucky to have gotten out of there alive. That one day… it's going to be like that, possibly for the rest of your life, if you do become a Hero," stated Mazeru, with his usual joking demeanor completely gone by now, replaced by a genuinely concerned father as he eyed his son worriedly. Yosetsu understood what he was trying to get across, that the Hero career was dangerous despite how much the media tried to flaunt it as being a good career to pursue… but with that being said…

"I know it'll be tough, dad. But even so, I want to be a Hero. More so than anything else," stated Yosetsu, with him staring down at his opened palm awkwardly as he spoke. Clenching it into a fist, he sighed to himself and shut his eyes before continuing, with him getting flashes of what had happened back when he was kidnapped all the while. "When… when I was taken, I felt so… so helpless. So hopeless. I thought that I wouldn't see you, mum or any of the others. I thought that my life would end there and then…

"But when Mika burst in to save me and the other kids, I felt it. I felt happy to know that he was there to save me, and more importantly, I felt… hope. And I guess that's the crux of it all, really. After experiencing all that, I… I now understand what people without power feel when they're being pulled into a pit of despair, and how much it means to them when someone, Hero or not, jumps in to reignite the hope in the. And it might be a little presumptuous of me to say such a thing, but I want to make sure that no one ever falls into that pit ever again, and if they do, I want to be a Hero that pulls them out of that pit and Weld them up, higher than they've ever been…!"

With each word uttered by Yosetsu, his parents found themselves taken aback by him as they stared at the youngest Awase in shock. They never really recalled a time when their little Welder had spoken with such determination, and when he snapped his eyes open and glanced at them with a blazing flame present in each of his irises, flames that shone with unmistakable passion, the two of them realized that they wouldn't be able to change his mind on the matter… not that they wished to do so in the first place.

"... okay that was kinda cheesy of me, but s-still… I want to protect those that can't protect themselves. Derma, Aston, Itagami… they're just some of many who never got the chance to be saved by a Hero, and while Mika did save them, it would've been better if it had been… earlier," muttered Yosetsu, embarrassed as he rubbed his upper arm meekly, and to that, Toketa smiled as she shifted towards her son and stroked his cheek gently, surprising him quite a fair bit.

"Yosetsu… I… we understand. You know, when you were young, your dad and I were always skeptical about you wanting to be a Hero, especially back in middle school," began Toketa, with Yosetsu reddening a little at that revelation. Goodness, they actually remembered those days…? He had hoped that they forgot about them… "We were worried that you'd get hurt on the field, but we didn't want to crush your dreams, intentional or not. But then, one day you just… stopped talking about becoming a Hero, and… admittedly, your dad and I felt relieved. But more so than that, we felt… guilty."

"We always thought that we were the cause of you not wanting to become a Hero, but we never had the courage to ask you about it. So we kept to ourselves on the matter for quite some time, and until quite recently, we've mostly… forgotten about it," added Mazeru, with him looking a little guilty as he spoke. "But then… Yukinojo spoke to us about you. He said that you were one of the most heroic, non-Chryse kids he's seen in his long life, and he said that it would be a waste to not at least try and pursue the career. We were worried at first, of course… but then he told us about your… misadventures with the other kids… and then, that little pink haired girl came in and told us about how selflessly you jumped in to save her… and that was when we realized that, despite our fears, we were holding you back this whole time."

"We've unintentionally railroaded your life, Yosetsu. We… we wanted you to have a simple, boring life. We wrapped you in bubble wrap and almost tried to put you in a plastic dome," admitted Toketa, with her frowning as she recalled the not-particularly unwarranted fear she's had in the past with her son's wishes to be a Hero.

Call it Quirkist of her, but in her mind, Quirks such as Merge and Flatten, and by proxy Weld, had no place in Hero work, with them being more in line with industrial work more so than anything. Her parents and even her grandparents told her that much, and she carried their beliefs onwards… until now. Yukinojo had told them that, according to Mikazuki, Yosetsu had made use of his Weld Quirk to disable his opponent with shocking ease, and Augus had even gone on to state that, if trained properly, he could combine his Meta Ability alongside some basic or even advanced martial arts to become a truly deadly close quarters combatant.

"But now… now we've realized that you're capable of so much more."

Likewise, both Toketa and Mazeru had been worried about Yosetsu's ability to survive on the field. Though they would never admit such a thing, they knew that Awase was a vulgar kid, and when under a load of stress, he tended to panic easily. However, once again, Yukinojo had told them that, according to Mikazuki once more, their son had worked decently when in a stressful situation. He had thought quickly and had intervened at a critical moment, inadvertently saving Augus' life in the process, and as with his Quirk, Mika had been confident in the fact that, with enough training to work well under stress, Awase could very well be a terrifying opponent, even when stacked up against the strongest of enemies.

"And that's why, Awase Yosetsu…"

And by all means, this was the crux of both her and her husbands' final decision. Though they still worried for him, they knew that Yosetsu had all that he needed to grow into a worthy Hero. he had the heart, the mindset and the skills of a Hero, even if the latter two still needed some work, and all he really needed to develop was his strength. By all means, he would still be in danger, but even so, life itself was nothing if not a massive danger-fest, and though being a Hero meant that he'd be brushing against it more frequently, Toketa and Mazeru were both confident that, with enough training, their son would be able to power through even the toughest of life's challenges.

"...that's why your father and I approve of your decision to become a Hero, and we will support you on every step of the journey."

And with those words uttered, Yosetsu felt his eyes widening quite a bit as he processed what he had just heard. Toketa and Mazeru remained worriedly silent as they watched their son freeze in front of them awkwardly, with both his eyes widened and his mouth agape, though not long after, he turned away and wiped at his eyes a little awkwardly, with him sniffling all the while. The older Awases tensed up as Mazeru held a hand forwards, worried for his little Yo-yo's sake, though thankfully enough, when their son turned back to face them, he was smiling so widely that, should it grow any wider, his face would've split in half.

"T-Thank you… thank you! I… I'll do my best to make the two of you proud, as a Hero!"

And with that said, Yosetsu felt both his parents lean forwards and engulf him in a powerful yet gentle hug, with neither of them wanting to tell him that, regardless of what he did from here on out, they would forever be proud of him regardless…

Fluff from here on out. But we're close to canon...!

Again, I'm trying to keep outros short. Hopefully you guys enjoyed this!

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Spyro Fanboy: honestly speaking, quite a few stories do touch the darker matters on the universe. But even so, I hope you, and hopefully more of you guys, enjoyed how I wrote it. Also I just like the idea of the Tail being a pseudo cat. And as long as I enjoy writing these things, I'll continue writing them!

Hey what's this below the outro?

The sound of his hospital door swinging open did not come as a surprise to him. If anything, he had been expecting it as he turned to acknowledge the person entering, and when he saw them, or rather her, he… found his calm facade fading away as he raised a brow in apprehension.

"... Ms Joke?" muttered Mikazuki, with him looking… uncertain on what to even say when he saw the aforementioned Heroine standing before him in civilian wear. The young woman was holding onto a binder as she stepped in and shut the door behind her, and as she did so, she gave Mika a full view of her suspender-skirt and pseudo-clown shirt that looked rather… amusing, to say the least, not that he'd ever say such a thing.

Upon hearing him say her alias, Ms Joke grinned and held her left hand up to her left eye and flashed the peace sign while sticking her tongue out, and though she wasn't using her Quirk, that gesture still got a mini-rise out of Mikazuki as he smiled at her. That… wasn't particularly a surprise, honestly, as, outside of Eraserhead, Mika greatly respected Ms Joke as well. Her mixture of Underground and Limelight Heroics meant that she had to work overtime in a rather competitive environment, and in spite of it all, she still continued to smile through all the hardships that came her way, something that Augus doubted was completely a result of her Quirk.

Regardless of his surprise, however, after dropping her pose, Ms Joke walked up to Mikazuki and bowed her head at him. The boy mirrored the gesture, and at that, she began to speak.

"Okay, first thing's first, Augus-Kun, when I'm dressed like this, please refer to me as Fukukado Emi. No need for the San prefix, it makes me feel old and I'm just 28," began Ms Joke… nay, Emi Fukukado, as she dragged a chair over towards the side of Mikazuki's bed and sat down atop it. Augus nodded thoughtfully at that, with him pretending to not feel satisfied at learning about one of his favorite Heroine's true name. "And secondly… I'm here to talk about your future."

"Behind bars, I'm guessing? If you're going to arrest me, then just arrest me and get it over with quickly," groaned Mikazuki, sounding annoyed as he grimaced. Emi noticed this, however, as she frowned and opened up the binder in her hands, eliciting a raise of Mika's brow all the while.

"Normally… yes, I would be saying that, but not today, kiddo. Today I'm here to give you a… third chance. Huh, that's a first. Usually you're fu…nked at chance number two," laughed Fukukado as she smiled a little at Mikazuki, seeming keen on lightening the mood with her words. To her credit, it did work a little as Augus flashed the smallest of smiles at her words, though not long after, her usually jovial demeanor faded away as she began speaking of the main reason as to why she was here in the first place.

"But seriously, Augus Mikazuki, would you like a chance to perhaps… earn a third chance at freedom? Because if you do, then I might have a way to give you that chance."

And to that, the Rex Tail wielder, though uncertain at first, found himself nodding as he grunted in affirmation.